Eagle Scout Project to Photograph 50,000 Graves

Fifteen-year-old Hunter Boyer has chosen a unique Eagle Scout project to benefit the past, present and future at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Boyer’s goal is to recruit enough volunteers to take photos of over 50,000 graves using the smartphone app BillionGraves.

The BillionGraves Android and iOS app allows anyone to quickly and easily capture images of headstones with their GPS locations. From there, these records are transcribed and made available for free to families everywhere on BillionGraves.com and FamilySearch.org.

Without disparaging this project in particular I do wish that people would consider projects that involve documenting the headstones of those who are not included in any database. It makes no sense to duplicate work. All of the graves at Sam Houston are included on the VA website that covers all National Cemeteries (but not with photos) and as noted above almost half of the graves at Sam Houston are on findagrave. In the meantime there are hundreds of cemeteries for which no entries have been made on the Internet. BTW – I do hope that if this project is carried out the Boy Scouts realize that the names and relevant dates of deceased spouses are engraved on the backside of the veteran’s marker if said spouse is buried there. I do hope they will look rather than just go down the row. Of course, if the spouse isn’t there yet, someone will have to add this in the future.

Dick Eastman has been involved in genealogy for more than 30 years. He
has worked in the computer industry for more than 40 years in hardware,
software, and managerial positions. By the early 1970s, Dick was already
using a mainframe computer to enter his family data on punch cards. He
built his first home computer in 1980.

September 24 & 25, 2016 - Third International Family History Conference, Clare, Ireland

Dick Eastman LIVE at your event

Dick Eastman is available for presentations and full-day seminars at genealogy conferences around the world. Dick knows that sitting through a boring speech is painful. Therefore, he keeps things light and humorous, giving presentations that are educational, motivational, and entertaining.